YKM cafe restaurant is one of the distinguished restaurants in Kars in which has a playground for children. It has a wide variety of food options from fast food like pizza, hamburger to grill like all kinds of Turkish kabobs and Pides (savory pastries with different fillings like mozzarella, ground beef, meat stew, sausage, mushroom. But I think that vegeterian option is the only missing part. If I were asked I would definitely add some veggie choises to menu.

I found the recipe from one of the blogs I follow. I tried and really liked it. I never skip salad kind recipes I met. This was just one of them. Original recipe has mustard in sauce along with lemon juice, olive oil and salt. I omit mustard and add some fresh dill.

Ingredients

5 springs of green onion, thinly sliced

3/4 cup corn (canned)

1-2 tin canned tuna

a few springs fresh dill, chopped

2 fresh red pepper

or 3 roasted red peppers, diced

1/2 bunch parsley, chopped

1 lemon juice

3-4 tbsp olive oil

salt

Directions

in a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients but lemon juice salt and olive oil. in a jar squeeze lemon juice, add salt. Put the lid on and shake. Stir olive oil in and shake it again until well blended. Drizlle over the salad and toss to coat.

This olive oil dish has a limited time since fava beans could be found only in the spring and may be till the end of spring latest. So hurry for finding!

note: if you a re living in US, You may find it in farmers market. note 2: Before I forget, I used chopped parsley on top because I like the flavor of parsley better but the original recipe has fresh dill both for cooking and garnish. I don’t know why but most of the Turkish dishes with olive oil include chopped fresh dill either for cooking or for garnish. Maybe using dill in dishes goes back to history of Turkish cuisine. Who knows!

Wash the fava. Trim both ends and cut into bite size. This kind of beans are getting darker easily. Soak in the water with lemon juice so that the colour of the fava won’t be dark later.

In medium-sized pan, sautee the onions with 3 tbsp olive oil. Add fava beans, 1 cup water and the remaining ingredients in the pot. If needed, add the second cup of lemon water. Cook for about half an hour on medium-low heat with the lid covered. Place on a service plate and let cool down to room temperature. Pour the garlic flavored yogurt on top and garnish with chopped fresh dill. Serve cold.

yes, it is fruit salad again. But this time with the berries that nobody will reject.Berries have notably high levels of the essential dietary mineral manganese, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K and dietary fiber. One serving provides a relatively low glycemic load.

Especially in wild berries contain antioxidant pigments and various phytochemicals possibly having a role in reducing risks of some diseases, including inflammation and different cancers.

Roasted eggplant and ground beef stew is a kind of light dish for people who want to be careful about the calorie intake and for the diabetics too. If you omit the yogurt topping or count it as one carb, it is already a low carbohydrate option.

Ingredients

4-5 small Indian eggplants

4-5 green pepper

2 medium tomatoes, peeled and petite diced

8 oz ground lamb or beef

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Pepper

For topping

2 cloves garlic, minced

Plain yogurt

Directions

Roast eggplants and peppers in the oven for an hour. Set aside to cool down. Meanwhile sauté onion in 2 tbsp olive oil until lightly browned. Add ground beef and stir constantly not to make it beef chunks. Peel and dice the eggplants, peppers and stir that in to beef. Add petite diced tomatoes as well.

Stir to combine and let simmer for 5- 10 minutes. Pour on a platter and serve with garlic flavored yogurt on top. You can drizzle olive oil and paprika mixture on top of yogurt as garnish if you want.

Fruit salad is one of my favorite desserts. They are both light and appetizing. You can always reach and prepare the salad whatever the season is. You have hundreds options for the fruit salad. I prepared this one using “mango, peach and red seedless grapes” and topped with a dallop whipped cream whisked with a tbsp powdered sugar and sprinkled some finely chopped pistachios.